Method of fabricating semiconductor device having stacked-layered substrate

ABSTRACT

A method of fabricating a light valve device comprises forming a substrate having stacked layers including a light-shielding thin film layer, an insulating film, and a single crystalline semiconductor thin film stacked in this order on a transparent support substrate. A light-shielding layer pattern is formed by selectively etching the stacked layers. Thereafter, a switching element is formed comprised of a transistor having a channel region formed in the single crystalline semiconductor thin film and a main gate electrode covering the channel region. The channel region is provided over the light-shielding pattern layer to prevent light incident from the transparent support substrate from illuminating the channel region to suppress a photo-induced leakage current in the channel region. A transparent electrode is formed and is electrically connected to the switching element. An opposing substrate is then provided over the substrate at the side of the single crystalline semiconductor thin film, and an electro-optical material layer is interposed between the substrate and the opposing substrate.

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/060,163 filed May 7,1993 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,672,518 division of application Ser. No.07/771,756 filed Oct. 4, 1991 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,233,211.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1 . Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to light valve devices of a flat platetype, such as active matrix liquid crystal panels used for displayapparatus of a direct viewing type or display apparatus of a projectiontype. More specifically, the invention relates to a method offabricating a semiconductor device that is incorporated as a substrateof the liquid crystal panel and that has electrodes and switchingelements to directly drive the liquid crystal.

2. Description of the Related Background Art

The active matrix device is based on a simple principle in which eachpixel is equipped with a switching element and when a particular pixelis to be selected, the corresponding switching element is madeconductive and when it is not selected, the switching element is madenonconductive. The switching elements are formed on a glass substratewhich forms part of the liquid crystal panel. Therefore, the technologyfor thinning and miniaturizing the switching elements is very important.Thin-film transistors are ordinarily used as such switching elements.

In an active matrix device, so far, thin-film transistors have beenformed on the surface of a thin silicon film that is deposited on theglass substrate. Such transistors are generally of a field effectinsulated gate type. A transistor of this type is constituted by achannel region formed in the thin silicon film and a gate electrodewhich is so formed as to cover the channel region. A predeterminedvoltage is applied to the gate electrode to control the conductance ofthe channel region and to carry out the switching operation.

The conventional insulted gate-type thin film transistors have a problemin that a leakage current flows into the channel region through the backside of the thin film even when the channel region is made nonconductiveby controlling the gate voltage. That is, so-called back channel takesplace impairing the proper operation of the active matrix device.Namely, in order to operate the pixels at high speeds by a line sequencesystem, the conductance ratio of the switching elements between theconductive state and the nonconductive state must be greater than 10⁶.In fact, however, the back channel makes it difficult to obtain therequired switching performance.

Even if the back channel were extinguished, the channel region of thethin-film transistor exhibits an increased conductance if light from anexternal source falls thereon since the semiconductor device is usedunder the illuminated condition, causing leakage current in the drainand source in the nonconductive state. Further, the ratio of thisleakage current to the leakage current when the semiconductor device isnot illuminated increases with increase in the quality of thesemiconductor thin film such as single crystal that forms the channelregions, causing another problem.

In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems the object of thepresent invention is to provide a method of fabricating a semiconductordevice for driving light valves of a flat plate type having thin filmtransistors of a structure which is capable of effectively preventingthe back channel and shutting off the incident light.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to accomplish the above object, a semiconductor deviceaccording to the present invention is formed by using a substrate havinga stacked structure which includes an insulating support substrate madeof light-transmitting material, a light-shielding thin film provided onthe support substrate, and a semiconductor thin-film provided on thelight-shielding thin film via an insulating film. Transparent electrodesfor driving the light valve, i.e., pixel electrodes, are arranged on thesupport substrate. Furthermore, switching elements are formed toselectively excite the pixel electrodes. Each of the switching elementsconsists of a field effect insulated gate type transistor having achannel region and a main gate electrode for controlling the conductanceof the channel region. The channel region is formed in the semiconductorthin film, and the main gate electrode is so formed as to cover thechannel region. A light-shielding layer is formed separately from themain gate electrode. The light-shielding layer is constituted by alight-shielding thin film and is provided on the side opposite to themain gate electrode with respect to the channel region. That is, thechannel region of the transistor is sandwiched between the main gateelectrode and the light-shielding layer vertically.

Preferably, both the main gate electrode disposed on the transistorchannel region and sub-gate electrodes under the transistor channelregion are made of light-shielding material and together with thelight-shielding layer nearly completely shuts off light entering thechannel region from the outside.

More preferably, the light-shielding layer is made of an electricallyconductive material to eliminate the back channel. It is furtherpossible to supply an electric current to the light-shielding layer inorder to control the back channel.

Further, the channel region of the transistor is preferably formed in asemiconducting thin film of single silicon crystal and can be processedon the order of sub-microns using an ordinary LSI technology.

According to the present invention, the conductance in the channelregion of each transistor constituting a switching element is controlledby a couple of main gate and sub-gate electrodes on both surfaces of thesemiconducting thin film via insulating films. Therefore, there developsno back channel unlike the structure controlled by one gate electrode onone surface thereof only as in a conventional thin film transistor. Inother words, the sub-gate electrodes according to the present inventionare provided in order to suppress the back channel.

In addition, since the channel region is covered by a couple oflight-shielding gate electrodes from the upper and lower sides, lightincident on the light valve device passes through the pixel electrodebut is nearly completely shut off in the channel region, making itpossible to effectively prevent the generation of photoelectric current.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a partial sectional view which schematically illustrates thestructure of a flat-type semiconductor device for driving light valves;

FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view which schematically illustrates thestructure of a composite substrate used for fabricating the abovesemiconductor device;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are schematic diagrams illustrating different steps forfabricating the flat-type semiconductor device for driving light valves;and

FIG. 5 is a perspective exploded view which schematically illustratesthe structure of the light valve device of a flat plate-type constitutedby using the semiconductor device of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described indetail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic partialsectional view of a semiconductor device for driving light valves offlat plate-type. The device is of a laminated layer structure 2 formedon a support substrate 1. The laminated layer structure 2 includes alight-shielding thin film and a semiconducting thin film formed on thelight-shielding thin film via an insulating film. A transparentelectrode for driving a respective light valve, i.e., pixel electrode 3is formed on the surface of a composite substrate which is of astacked-layer structure 2. Further, in the stacked-layer structure 2 iscorrespondingly formed a switching element 4 to selectively excite thepixel electrode 3. The switching element 4 has a drain region 5 and asource region 6 that are formed in a semiconducting thin film and arespaced apart from each other. The drain region 5 is connected to asignal line 12 and the source region 6 is connected to the correspondingpixel electrode 3. Moreover, a channel region 7 is provided between thedrain region 5 and the source region 6. A main gate electrode 9 isformed on the front surface side of the channel region 7 via a gateinsulating film 8. The main gate electrode 9 is connected to a scanningline that is not shown and controls the conductance of the channelregion 7 in order to turn the switching element 4 on or off. Alight-shielding layer 11 is arranged on the back surface side or thechannel region 7 via an insulating layer 10. That is, the 1light-shielding layer 11 is arranged on the side opposite to the maingate electrode 9 with respect to the channel region 7. Thelight-shielding layer 11 consists of the aforementioned light-shieldingthin film. When the light-shielding thin film is electricallyconductive, the light-shielding layer 11 also works as a sub-gateelectrode that controls back channels.

The pair of main and sub-gate electrodes 9 and 11 arranged on both sidesof the channel region 7 are made of light-shielding material and, hence,completely shut off the light incident on the channel region 7.

In this embodiment, furthermore, the channel region 7 is formed of asemiconducting thin film of a single silicon crystal to which ordinaryLSI processing technologies can be directly adapted. Therefore, thechannel length can be shortened to the order of submicrons.

FIG. 2 is a schematic partial sectional view of a composite substrateused for fabricating a semiconductor device for driving light valves ofa flat plate-type according to the present invention. The compositesubstrate consists of the support substrate 1 and the stacked-layerstructure 2 formed thereon as shown. First, the support substrate 1 iscomposed of a light-transmitting insulating material such as aheat-resistant quartz consisting chiefly of silicon oxide or aluminumoxide. Aluminum oxide exhibits a coefficient of thermal expansion whichis close to that of silicon and gives advantage in regard to suppressingstress. Furthermore, since single crystals of aluminum oxide can beformed, it is possible to heteroepitaxially grow a single crystallinesemiconductor film thereon. Next, the laminated layer structure 2 has alight-shielding thin film 21 arranged on the support substrate 1, aninsulating film 22 arranged on the above light-shielding thin film 21,and a semiconducting thin film 23 that is arranged on the insulatingfilm 22 and is composed of a single crystalline material adhered to thesupport substrate 1. The light-shielding thin film 21 is composed of anelectrically conductive material such as polysilicon. Alternatively, itis also possible to use a single layer film of germanium,silicon-germanium or silicon, or a multi-layer film of silicon includingat least one layer of germanium or silicon-germanium instead of thesingle layer film of polysilicon. It is further possible to use a metalfilm such as of silicide or aluminum instead of the above semiconductormaterials. When aluminum oxide, i.e., sapphire, is used as the supportsubstrate, furthermore, a single silicon crystal can beheteroepitaxially grown thereon to form a light-shielding film.

The stacked-layer structure 2 may include a ground film 24 that isinterposed between the support substrate 1 and the light-shielding thinfilm 21. The ground film 24 is provided to improve the adhesion betweenthe support substrate 1 and the stacked-layer structure 2. For instance,when the support substrate 1 is of quartz that consists mainly ofsilicon oxide, there can be used silicon oxide as the ground film 24.When it is desirable for the ground film 24 to block the infiltration ofimpurities from the support substrate 1, the ground film should becomposed of a layer of silicon nitride or oxynitride, or a multilayerfilm of at least either one of them and silicon oxide. In particular,the oxynitride is useful since it is capable of adjusting the stress.

Next, the insulating film 22 is used as a gate insulating film for thesub-gate electrode which consists of the light-shielding thin film 21,and is composed of, for instance, silicon oxide or silicon nitride. Or,the insulating film 22 may be constituted by a multi-layer film ofsilicon nitride and silicon oxide.

The semiconducting thin film 23 positioned at the top of thestacked-layer structure 2 is made, for example, of silicon. This siliconmay be of a single crystalline form, polycrystalline form or amorphousform. The amorphous silicon thin film or the polycrystalline siliconthin film can be easily deposited on a glass substrate by chemical vapordeposition, and is adaptable to manufacture of an active matrix devicehaving a relatively large screen. When such an amorphous silicon thinfilm is used, it is possible to make a active matrix liquid crystaldevice having a screen size of about three inches to ten inches. Inparticular, the amorphous silicon thin film can be formed at atemperature as low as 350° C. or less, and is suitable for liquidcrystal panels of large areas. When a polycrystalline silicon thin filmis used, it is possible to make small liquid crystal panels of about twoinches.

In the case of using a polycrystalline silicon thin film, however, thereproducibility of element constant is poor and variations increase whena transistor is formed having a channel length on the order ofsubmicrons by adopting fine semiconductor processing technology. Whenamorphous silicon is used, furthermore, a high-speed switching cannot berealized even though the submicron processing technology is employed.When a semiconducting thin film of a single crystal of silicon is used,on the other hand, it is possible to directly adopt fine semiconductorprocessing technology to greatly increase the density of the switchingelements and to obtain an ultra-fine light valve device.

Even though the switching element has a channel length on the order ofmicrons, a high channel mobility makes it possible to realize ahigh-speed operation. It is further possible to integrate peripheralcircuits for controlling the switching elements on the same supportsubstrate in a large scale and to control the array of switchingelements at high speeds, so that the light valve device manufactured byuse of semiconductor thin film of silicon single crystal isindispensable for displaying highly fine moving pictures.

Described below in detail with reference to FIG. 3 is a method offabricating a semiconductor device according to the present invention.First, a composite substrate is prepared in a process shown in FIG.3(A). That is, the ground film 24 of silicon oxide is formed on thesupport substrate 1 of a polished quartz plate by a chemical vapordeposition method or sputtering. The light-shielding thin film 21 madeof polysilicon is deposited on the ground film 24 by a chemical vapordeposition method. Then, the insulating film 22 made of silicon oxide isformed on the light-shielding thin film 21 by a thermal oxidation methodor chemical vapor deposition method. Lastly, the semiconductor thin film23 of a single silicon crystal is formed on the insulating film 22. Thesemiconductor thin film 23 is obtained by adhering the semiconductingsubstrate of a single silicon crystal to the insulating film 22 and thenpolishing it until its thickness becomes several μm. The singlecrystalline silicon semiconductor substrate to be used is preferably asilicon wafer of high quality that is used for manufacturing LSIs havinguniform crystal orientation within a range of [100] 0.0±1.0 and a singlecrystal lattice defect density of smaller than 500 defects/cm². Thesurface of the silicon wafer having such physical properties is, first,finished precisely and smoothly. Then, the smoothly finished surface issuperposed on the insulating film 22 followed by heating to adhere thesilicon wafer to the support substrate 1 by thermocompression bonding.By thermocompression bonding, the silicon wafer and the supportsubstrate 1 are firmly adhered to each other. In this state, the siliconwafer is polished until a desired thickness is obtained. Here, it ispossible to carry out an etching instead of the polishing. The thusobtained single crystalline silicon semiconductor thin film 23substantially keeps the quality of the silicon wafer; therefore asemiconductor substrate material is obtained having very excellentuniformity in the crystal orientation and a low lattice defect density.

By current technologies, the surface of the silicon wafer that isadhered by thermocompression bonding has electrical defects to someextent, and the following process is further preferable. SiO₂ is formedin the single crystalline wafer by thermal oxydation or CVD. Then,polysilicon is formed by CVD and the surface is polished as required.Thereafter, SiO₂ is formed by thermal oxidation or CVD, silicon nitridefilm is formed by CVD and SiO₂ is formed by thermal oxidation or CVD inthe order mentioned. The silicon wafer is adhered by thermocompressionbonding onto a quartz support substrate or a quartz support substratecoated with SiO₂ by CVD and is, then, polished.

Next, in a step shown in FIG. 3(B), the stacked-layer structure 2 isetched in order except the around film 24 in order to form thelight-shielding layer 11 of the light-shielding thin film 21 on theundermost layer, namely, the ground film 24. At the same time, the gateoxide film 10 of an insulating film 22 is formed on the light-shieldinglayer 11. The light-shielding layer 11 is formed by applying aphotosensitive film 26 onto the whole surface of the composite substratefollowed by patterning into a desired shape and, then, effecting anetching selectively using the patterned photosensitive film 26 as amask.

Then, in a step shown in FIG. 3(C), an element region 25 is formed onthe two-layer structure consisting of the patterned light-shieldinglayer 11 and the gate oxide film 10. The element region 25 is obtainedby selectively etching only the semiconducting thin film 23 into adesired shape. The semiconducting thin film 23 is selectively etched byusing, as a mask, the photosensitive film 26 that is patterned to theshape of the element region.

In a step shown in FIG. 3(D), furthermore, the photosensitive film 26 isremoved and, then, a thermally oxidized film is formed on the wholesurface inclusive of the surface of the semiconducting thin film 23 thatis exposed. As a result, a gate oxide film 8 is formed on the surface ofthe semiconducting thin film 23.

Then, in a step shown in FIG. 3(E), a polycrystalline silicon film isdeposited by a chemical vapor deposition method to cover the elementregion 25. The polycrystalline silicon film is selectively etched usinga photosensitive film (not shown) that is patterned into a desired shapein order to form the main gate electrode 9. The main gate electrode 9 ispositioned above the semiconducting thin film 23 via the gate oxide film8.

In a step shown in FIG. 3(F), impurity ions are injected through thegate oxide film 8 using the main gate electrode 9 as a mask, in order toform the drain region 5 and the source region 6 in the semiconductingthin film 23. As a result, there is formed a transistor channel region 7that contains no impurity under the main gate electrode 9 between thedrain region 5 and the source region 6.

Next, in a step shown in FIG. 3(G), a protective film 27 is formed tocover the element region. As a result, the switching element thatincludes the light-shielding layer 11 and the main gate electrode 9 isburied under the protective film 27.

Lastly, in a step shown in FIG. 3(H), the gate oxide film 8 on thesource region 6 is partly removed to form a contact hole, and atransparent pixel electrode 3 is so formed as to cover this portion. Thepixel electrode 3 is made or a transparent material such as ITO. Inaddition, the protective film 27 provided on the lower side of the pixelelectrode 3 is made, for example, of silicon oxide and is transparent.Moreover, the support substrate 1 of quartz glass on the lower sidethereof is transparent, too. Therefore, the three-layer structureconsisting of the pixel electrode 3, protective film 27 and quartz glasssupport substrate 1, is optically transparent and can be utilized for alight valve device of a transmission type.

The pair of main gate and sub-gate electrodes 9 and 11 that verticallysandwich the channel region 7 are made of polysilicon which is opticallyopaque in contrast to the above three-layer structure, and shut off theentering light and prevent leakage current from flowing into the channelregion. The incident light can be perfectly shut off by using a materialhaving a low band gap such as silicon, germanium or the like.

In the manufacturing method shown in FIG. 3 as described above, thesemiconductor thin film 23 of high-quality single crystalline silicon isprocessed at a temperature higher than 600° C., followed by aphotolithoetching technique with high resolution and by ionimplantation, making it possible to form a field-effect insulated gatetransistor having a size or the order of microns or submicrons. Thesingle crystalline silicon film of a very high quality is used, and,hence, the obtained insulated gate transistor exhibits excellentelectric characteristics. At the same time, the pixel electrode 3 can beformed in a size or the order or microns by the minituarizationtechnology, making it possible to fabricate a semiconductor device foractive matrix liquid crystal having a high density and fine structure.

FIG. 3 shows the embodiment in which the single crystallinesemiconductor film 23 is formed by thermocompression bonding. Referringto FIG. 4, another embodiment is shown where the single crystallinesemiconductor film is formed by an epitaxial method instead of thethermocompression bonding. First, a transparent aluminum oxide 101 suchas sapphire is used as the support substrate as shown in FIG. 4(A).Next, as shown in FIG. 4(B), a single crystalline silicon film 102 isheteroepitaxially grown using the crystal of aluminum oxide 101 as aseed. In the polycrystalline form, aluminum oxide has a coefficient ofthermal expansion that is closer to that of silicon than that of quartz.When polycrystalline aluminum oxide is used as the support substrate ofthe embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the thermal stress is small and thecrystallinity of the single crystalline silicon film formed thereon canbe maintained even after the semiconductor processing at a hightemperature. In FIG. 4 showing a process where single crystallinealuminum oxide is used, it is possible to hetero-epitaxially grow thesingle crystalline silicon film 102 as shown in FIG. 4(3). Next thesingle crystalline silicon film 102 that is grown is patterned as shownin FIG. 4(C) to form a light-shielding film 111. Then, an insulatingfilm 110 is formed as shown in FIG. 4(D), a hole 112 is made in aportion thereof, so that the surface or the single crystalline siliconfilm 111 is partially exposed as shown in FIG. 4(E). Next, an amorphousor polycrystalline semiconductor film 123 is formed as shown in FIG.4(F). The single crystalline silicon film 111 and the semiconductor film123 are in contact with each other in the hole 112. If the heattreatment is carried out in this state at a high temperature, thesemiconductor film 123 grows laterally and epitaxially with the singlecrystalline silicon film 111 in the hole as a seed. As shown in FIG.4(G), therefore, the region 123A close to the hole is transformed into asingle crystal. The region 123B that is not transformed into a singlecrystal is kept in a polycrystalline form. Though FIG. 4(F) illustratesan example in which the polycrystalline semiconductor film 123 is,first, formed and is then grown laterally and epitaxially by a heattreatment, it should be noted that the single crystalline semiconductorfilm can also be formed, as shown in FIG. 4(G), even by gas-sourceepitaxy or liquid-phase epitaxy from the state shown in FIG. 4(E). Usecan be made of silicon film or a GaAs film as a semiconducting film.Next, as shown in FIG. 4(H), a region 124 that serves as the substrateof a transistor is patterned. Next, as shown in FIG. 4(I), a gateinsulating film 108 is formed and, finally, a transistor is formed inwhich a transparent electrode 103 is connected with a drain region 106as shown in FIG. 4(J). The conductance of a channel region 107 betweenthe source region 105 and the drain region 106 is controlled through thegate electrode 125 and the light-shielding film 111. FIG. 4(J)illustrates an example in which the light-shielding film 111 isconnected to the source region 105 which, however, is not necessary. InFIG. 4(G), the single crystalline region is grown laterally andepitaxially so long as 3 to 5 μm, enabling a single crystallinetransistor to be formed on the insulating film as shown in FIG. 4(J).

Lastly, described below with reference to FIG. 5 is an optical valvedevice that is assembled by using the semiconductor device of thepresent invention. As shown, the light valve device is constituted by asemiconductor device 28, a facing substrate 29 facing the semiconductordevice 28, and an electrooptical material layer such as a liquid crystallayer 30 between the semiconductor device 28 and the facing substrate29. In the semiconductor device 28 are formed pixel electrodes or driveelectrodes 3 that define pixels and switching elements 4 for excitingthe drive electrodes 3 in response to predetermined signals.

The semiconductor device 23 consists of the support substrate 1 composedof quartz class and the laminated layer structure 2 formed on thesupport substrate 1. In addition, a polarizer plate 31 is adhered to theback surface of the support substrate 1. The switching elements 4 areformed in a single crystalline silicon semiconductor thin film includedin the stacked-layer structure 2. The switching elements 4 areconstituted by a plurality of field-effect insulated gate transistorsarranged in a matrix. The source region of each transistor is connectedto a corresponding pixel electrode 3, the main gate electrode isconnected to the scanning line 32, and the drain electrode is connectedto the signal line 7.

The semiconductor device 28 further includes an X-driver 33 connected tothe signal lines 7 arranged in columns, and includes a Y-driver 34connected to the scanning lines 32 arranged in rows. The facingsubstrate 29 is constituted by a glass substrate 35, a polarizing plate36 adhered to the outer surface of the glass substrate 35, and a facingelectrode or a common electrode 37 formed on the inner surface of theglass substrate 35.

Though not diagramed, the light-shielding layer or the sub-gateelectrode included in each switching element 4 is preferably connectedto the scanning line 32 together with the main gate electrode. The aboveconnection makes it possible to effectively prevent leakage current fromflowing into the channel region of the transistor that constitutes theswitching element. Or, the light-shielding layer can be connected to thesource region or the drain region of the corresponding transistor. Inany way, a predetermined voltage is applied to the light-shielding layerto effectively prevent leakage current from flowing due to the backchannel. By controlling the voltage applied to the light-shieldinglayer, furthermore, the threshold voltage of the channel region can beset to a desired value.

Operation of the thus constituted light valve device will now bedescribed in detail with reference to FIG. 5. The main gate and sub-gateelectrodes of each switching element 4 are connected in common to thescanning line 32, and are supplied with scanning signals from theY-driver 34; therefore the turn-on/off of the switching elements 4 iscontrolled line by line. A data signal output from the X-driver 33 isapplied, via signal line 7, to a selected switching element 4 that hasbeen turned on. The applied data signal is transmitted to thecorresponding pixel electrode 3 to excite it and acts upon the liquidcrystal layer 30, so that its transmission factor becomes substantially100%. When not selected, on the other hand, the switching element 4 isleft nonconductive and maintains the data signal previously written onthe pixel electrode as electric charge. Here, the liquid crystal layer30 has a large resistivity and usually operates a capacitive element.

An on/of current ratio is used to represent the switching performance ofthe switching elements 4. The current ratio necessary for operating theliquid crystal can be easily found from the write time and the holdingtime. For instance, when the data signal is a television signal, morethan 90% of the data signal must be written within about 60 μsec of onescanning period. On the other hand, more than 90% of the electric chargemust be retained for a period of one field which is about 16 msec.Therefore, the current ratio must be at least on the order of tenthousand. In this respect according to the present invention, theconductance of the channel region is controlled from both surfacesthereof by the main gate and sub-gate electrodes, and the leakagecurrent is substantially perfectly eliminated during the off period. Theon/off ratio of the switching elements having such a structure is on theorder of a hundred thousand or greater. It is therefore possible toobtain a light valve device of an active matrix type having a very fastsignal response characteristic.

According to the present invention as described above, a pair of maingate and sub-gate electrodes arranged on both sides of the transistorchannel region are formed using a light-shielding material such aspolysilicon, and whereby the light entering the channel region fromoutside is effectively shut off, making it possible to effectivelyprevent the occurrence of leakage current by the photo-electric effect.Moreover, since the transistor channel region formed in thesemiconductor thin film is controlled from the upper and lower sidesthereof by the main gate electrode and by the light-shielding layer,i.e., the sub-gate electrode composed of an electrically conductivematerial, the so-called back channel is effectively prevented, and athin-film transistor having a very excellent on/off ratio is obtained.As a result, there can be obtained a semiconductor device for drivinglight valves of a flat plate-type featured by very high responsecharacteristics and free from erroneous operation. In addition, byforming the switching elements consisting of field-effect insulated gatetransistors in the semiconducting thin film of single crystallinesilicon, it is possible to obtain a flat-type semiconductor device fordriving light valves that has a very fine and very large scaleintegration structure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of fabricating a light valve device,comprising the steps of: forming a substrate having stacked layersincluding a light-shielding thin film layer and an insulating filmstacked in this order on a transparent support substrate; adhering asemiconductor single crystal material to the insulating film; polishingthe semiconductor single crystal material to form a single crystallinesemiconductor thin film on the insulating film; forming alight-shielding layer pattern by selectively etching the stacked layers;then forming a switching element comprised of a transistor having achannel region formed in the single crystalline semiconductor thin filmand a main gate electrode covering the channel region, wherein thechannel region is provided over the light-shielding pattern layer toprevent light incident from the transparent support substrate fromilluminating the channel region to suppress a photo-induced leakagecurrent in the channel region; forming a transparent electrodeelectrically connected to the switching element; providing an opposingsubstrate over the substrate at the side of the single crystallinesemiconductor thin film; and interposing an electro-optical materiallayer between the substrate and the opposing substrate.
 2. A method asclaimed in claim 1; wherein the polishing is carried out to form thesingle crystalline semiconductor thin film to a thickness of severalmicrons.
 3. A method of fabricating a light valve device, comprising thesteps of: forming a substrate having stacked layers including alight-shielding thin film layer, an insulating film, and a singlecrystalline semiconductor thin film stacked in this order on atransparent support substrate; forming a light-shielding layer patternby forming a photosensitive film on the single crystalline semiconductorthin film, patterning the photosensitive film to the shape of thepattern of the light-shielding layer, and selectively etching thestacked-layered structure using the patterned photosensitive film as amask; then forming a switching element comprised of a transistor havinga channel region formed in the single crystalline semiconductor thinfilm and a main gate electrode covering the channel region, wherein thechannel region is provided over the light-shielding pattern layer toprevent light incident from the transparent support substrate fromilluminating the channel region to suppress a photo-induced leakagecurrent in the channel region; forming a transparent electrodeelectrically connected to the switching element; providing an opposingsubstrate over the substrate at the side of the single crystallinesemiconductor thin film; and interposing an electro-optical materiallayer between the substrate and the opposing substrate.
 4. A method asclaimed in claim 3; wherein the step of forming a transistor includesselectively etching the single crystalline semiconductor thin film usingthe patterned photosensitive film as a mask to form a part of the singlecrystalline semiconductor thin film in which is formed the channelregion of the transistor.
 5. A method of fabricating a light valvedevice, comprising the steps of: forming a substrate having stackedlayers including a light-shielding thin film layer and an insulatingfilm stacked in this order on a transparent substrate; adhering asemiconductor single crystal wafer to the insulating film bythermocompression bonding the single crystal wafer to the insulatingfilm; thinning the wafer to form a single crystalline semiconductor thinfilm; forming a light-shielding layer pattern by selectively etchingsaid stacked layers; then forming a switching element comprised of atransistor having a channel region formed in said single crystallinesemiconductor thin film and a main gate electrode covering said channelregion, wherein the channel region is provided over the light-shieldingpattern layer to prevent light incident from the transparent supportsubstrate from illuminating the channel region to suppress aphoto-induced leakage current in the channel region; forming atransparent electrode electrically connected to the switching element;providing an opposing substrate over the substrate at the side of thesingle crystalline semiconductor thin film; and interposing anelectro-optical material layer between the substrate and the opposingsubstrate.
 6. A method of fabricating a semiconductor device, comprisingthe steps of: forming a substrate having a stacked-layered structurecomprised of a transparent support substrate, a light shielding layerformed on the support substrate, and an insulating layer formed on thelight-shielding layer; adhering a semiconductor single crystal materialto the insulating layer; polishing the semiconductor single crystalmaterial to form a semiconductor single crystal layer on the insulatinglayer; selectively etching the light-shielding layer to form alight-shielding layer pattern; and thereafter forming a transistorswitching element having a channel region formed in and constitutingpart of the semiconductor single crystal layer and having a main gateelectrode formed over and being electrically insulated from the channelregion; wherein the channel region is provided over the light-shieldinglayer pattern to prevent light incident from the transparent supportsubstrate from illuminating the channel region to suppress aphoto-induced current in the channel region.
 7. A method as claimed inclaim 6; wherein the polishing is carried out to form the semiconductorsingle crystal layer to a thickness of several microns.
 8. A method asclaimed in claim 6; further including forming an electrode electricallyconnected to the transistor switching element.
 9. A method as claimed inclaim 8; wherein the electrode is a transparent electrode.
 10. A methodas claimed in claim 6; wherein the step of forming a substrate includesforming a film layer on the support substrate before forming thelight-shielding layer.
 11. A method according to claim 10; wherein thetransparent support substrate is comprised of quartz, and the film layeris composed of silicon oxide.
 12. A method according to claim 11;wherein the film layer comprises a multilayer structure comprised of alayer of silicon oxide and a layer of either silicon nitride oroxynitride.
 13. A method according to claim 6; wherein the step offorming a transistor switching element includes processing thesemiconductor single crystal layer to form an element region a part ofwhich constitutes the channel region of the transistor switchingelement, and injecting impurity ions into the element region using themain gate electrode as a mask to form source and drain regions of thetransistor switching element.
 14. A method according to claim 13;wherein the channel region is interposed between and separates thesource and drain region.
 15. A method according to claim 6; wherein thesemiconductor single crystal layer is made of single crystal silicon,and the single crystal silicon has a uniform crystal orientationdeviation within a range of ±1.0 degree.
 16. A method according to claim6; wherein the step of forming the switching element includes processingat a temperature higher than 600 degrees celsius.
 17. A method accordingto claim 6; wherein the light-shielding layer comprises a metal film.18. A method of fabricating a semiconductor device, comprising the stepsof: forming a substrate having a stacked-layered structure comprised ofa support substrate, a light-shielding layer formed on the supportsubstrate, and an insulating layer formed on the light-shielding layer;adhering a semiconductor material to the insulating layer; polishing thesemiconductor material to form a semiconductor layer on the insulatinglayer; selectively etching the light-shielding layer to form alight-shielding layer pattern; and thereafter forming a transistorswitching element having a channel region formed in and constitutingpart of the semiconductor layer and having a main gate electrode formedover and being electrically insulated from the channel region; whereinthe insulating layer is made of silicon oxide, the semiconductor layeris made of single crystal silicon, and the semiconductor layer of singlecrystal silicon has a uniform crystal orientation within a range of ±1.0degree and a single crystal lattice defect density of less than 500defects/cm².
 19. A method as claimed in claim 18; wherein the polishingis carried out to form the semiconductor layer to a thickness of severalmicrons.